


Return to Normal

by Singing_Siren



Series: The Silver Spider [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Angst, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Hydra (Marvel), I swear it's not all angst, Identity Reveal, Peter Parker Acts Like a Spider, Sometimes we get fluff, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2020-05-12 01:20:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 10,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19218718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Singing_Siren/pseuds/Singing_Siren
Summary: On his first day back, he didn’t expect the stares. Well, he expected some stares, but he didn’t think the entire hallway would just… stop. But that’s what they did. They froze, jaws hanging open, eyes wide, as he lowered his head and curled in on himself. He pushed through the attention. He set his jaw and marched forward, because he had been through worse in the last year.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, I apologize in advance. I love the Hydra Peter Parker trope, and I decided to write my version of it.

On his first day back, he didn’t expect the stares. Well, he expected some stares, but he didn’t think the entire hallway would just… stop. But that’s what they did. They froze, jaws hanging open, eyes wide, as he lowered his head and curled in on himself. He pushed through the attention. He set his jaw and marched forward, because he had been through worse in the last year.

-+-

Peter was taken from school in broad daylight. One moment, he was waving at Ned from across the street; the next, he was gone, dragged away by two men in black, a syringe in his neck.

He spent the next couple of days unconscious in a dark room. When he finally woke up, it was to cold water splashing him awake. All he remembers from those first few weeks is the pain. He remembers the electricity coursing through him and the exhaustion as his rapid healing worked on overdrive to keep him alive.

When he finally got rescued, almost a year later, it took Tony a week to get the details out of him. He still doesn’t like to talk about it.

-+-

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Ned asks for the fifth time.

Peter chuckles, warmth flooding his chest. He had missed this. “Yes, Ned, I am. I’ve been back for like two months, and Bruce says I’m all healed up. No more psychological issues to worry about.” He grits his teeth and tries to forget how many people he hurt.

His trigger words were shut down in the first week of being back, but it was too late. He had already caused more harm than good. He’ll never forget the nurses face as he snapped his neck.

Peter blinks out of the memory. He focuses on the teacher rambling on about something unimportant. He missed this, too. He missed how Ned could rant about anything and how MJ sighed when Peter got too excited over something nerdy. But he’s back now. He can experience those things again. He needs to keep reminding himself of that.

Ned pokes him in the side, and Peter forces himself to not react the way he had been programmed to react. Instead, he looks over to see Ned point at MJ’s notebook, revealing a newly drawn picture of their teacher in crisis. Peter laughs.

The teacher calls their attention with a stern frown, but Peter sees something soft in her eyes. Everybody knows what he’s been through, and he’s come to recognise the look of pity that people give off. He stares back, eyes hard. If people have to pity him, he’ll show them he’s stronger now.

As the class takes notes around him, he tunes it out. History isn’t important anymore, not after what he’s been through.

-+-

“We need to talk about this eventually, Pete,” Tony whispers as he cradles Peter’s head to his chest. He feels his shirt get wet with Peter’s tears. He cards his fingers through his hair. “Either to me or May, I don’t care, but you need to get it off your chest.”

-+-

Peter, flanked by Ned and MJ, strides down the hallway with his head held high. He scans the gawking students, looking for a threat subconsciously. He finds one.

“Hey, Penis!” Flash calls, slamming his locker and stepping in front of Peter. “I saw you on the news last month, something about a fake kidnapping? That’s what my dad says, anyways; that you faked it for attention.”

The hallway becomes silent. Peter hears their heartbeats speed up, and he grins the way his torturer did before he died, showing all his teeth. He knows he’s acting out of his “normal” behavior, but that’s what a year’s worth of programming does to a person, so he doesn’t care.

“Aw, Flash, I was beginning to think you forgot about me,” he says. He drops his grin, making his face purposely blank. “And you and your father can think what you want. It doesn’t affect me, because you’re wrong. Now, anything else?” The finality to Peter’s tone startles the other students in the hall, and no one moves.

“You may have everybody else fooled, Parker,” Flash sneers, “but not me. I see through your lies, and soon they will too.” He pushes past Peter, forcefully shouldering him as he does. Peter pretends to falter in his footing, losing balance. He hates that he has to do that.

“Don’t listen to him, dude,” Ned says, resting a warm hand on his arm. “He’s just being an idiot, like always.”

-+-

Peter strains against his bonds, wishing for something, anything, to stop the pain. It burns, it burns so bad. He holds back his scream. He won’t give them the satisfaction of having proof of his suffering.

He feels a tear slip down his cheek, and he clamps his eyes shut. A sob escapes him.

The man in front of him grips Peter’s chin and forces it up.

“You will look at me,” he says quietly. Peter chokes, but he opens his eyes. The man grins. “That’s better. Now, tell me where it hurts.” He plunges his thumb on the syringe down, sending the mystery liquid into Peter’s bloodstream.

This time, he can’t help it.

He screams.

-+-

His day is fine until eighth period. He’s been dreading it since May and Tony sat him down to tell him he was going back to school. Eighth period, PE, is Peter’s least favorite class. He hates having to pretend to be weak, and he detests changing in front of Flash and his buddies.

Peter takes a deep breath before he steps into the gym. The students around him give him a wide berth, but he still feels overwhelmed. This place, the gym, holds so many bad memories, and now, after a year of actual torture, those memories seem like child play.

He chuckles lowly, and then he moves. He holds his head high and strides through the gathering crowd of whispering students that seemed to follow him all day. They go silent as they watch him, watch his blank expression fix onto the coach. He stops, shoulders squared, in front of Coach Wilson.

“Coach,” he says, “Principal Morita told me to give you this.” He pulls a folded slip of paper out of his pocket and hands it over. He waits for him to read it, and that brief silence that fills the gym as his eyes scan the page  _ hurts _ Peter. The eyes on him burn, and his Spidey Sense goes crazy.

“What’s it say?” someone calls from the crowd. The others shush him.

The letter, from the Avengers’ doctor, Dr. Helen Cho, tells Coach Wilson of Peter’s physical limits for the next few weeks. Dr. Cho recommends exercise, but nothing too stressful. She details what he absolutely cannot do, including swimming, any tackling sports, and weightlifting.

Peter tries not to shrink when Coach Wilson looks back up at him. He’s clearly confused, and who wouldn’t be? A teenage boy gets kidnapped for a year, returns, and isn’t able to swim? Nobody except those close to Peter know what he went through in that time.

Peter wants to try to explain, but how does he say it? Sorry, Coach, I can’t swim because I was waterboarded for a week straight. Oh, and I can’t tackle anybody because my Bruce Banner doesn’t trust my strength to not kill the person that tries to hurt me. And, oh yeah, if I lift something heavy, it will look so easy because I spent months not regulating my strength because I was being  _ tortured _ .

So, Peter keeps his mouth shut.

Coach Wilson nods as the bell rings, signalling the start of class. “Alright, Parker, go get changed. That goes for all of you too!”

The crowd disperses quickly, the students fleeing to their designated locker rooms. Peter trails behind Ned, who gives him a pat on the back and a whispered  _ ‘good luck.’ _

-+-

“Pete,” Tony whispers, barely hiding the horror in his voice. “They- they did that to you?”

Peter shuts his eyes and holds back a whimper. He doesn’t want to disappoint Tony, but he can’t answer. The scars are long since healed, but he’d rather not acknowledge them. The memories attached hurt too much. He nods.

He squints at the mirror in front of him. His shirt falls from his hand, and he can’t bring himself to care. His chest is a mosaic of scar tissue, but one stands out the most. A skull rests on his sternum. Six tentacles extend from the mouth, curling around his torso and meeting as one at the small of his back.

He hates that one the most. It took days to burn it into him, but Glas had been dedicated.

-+-

Peter ignores the stares as he slips his shirt over his head. He keeps himself turned towards his locker, but he can hear  _ everything _ . He hears the silence as all the boys around him freeze. He can tell they’re looking at him because of the gasp that Abe lets out.

“Peter?”

He grits his teeth and pulls his gym shirt on with shaking hands. He’s stronger than this. He went through hell; he can make it through a single class period. All he can think as he marches out of the locker room is, “Thank god Flash didn’t see that.”

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I realize the flashbacks may be confusing, so basically every other section is in the present, and the rest is in the past. So, the first section is the present, the second the past, and so on.

Ned knows that Peter hasn’t told him everything about his missing year, and he’s okay with it. Except when it impacts his life in the present, like when Ned found out that Peter’s strength had increased. Peter says that it’s because it went unregulated, but Ned doesn’t believe him. If anything, that means that Peter would use his enhanced strength on accident, not that he would get stronger.

Ned is suspicious. So, he does what any sane person would do when they want to know the truth, he goes to MJ.

MJ doesn’t text him back. Ned comes to the conclusion that Peter doesn’t want to talk about it. Peter will come to him on his own time, and Ned can wait. He can wait, right?

-+-

He blinks in and out of consciousness, his heartbeat pounding in his chest. He can hear his racing heart, and he’s worried that Glas can too. But when he squints into the darkness surrounding him, Glass isn’t there.

Peter’s wrists itch, and he knows it’s not just because of the vibranium cuffs binding him to his chair. He knows that it’s something else, something  _ new _ . Just like how he knows that he’s getting stronger.

Something explodes outside of his cell. He feels the room shake. If he focuses, he can hear shouting from somewhere in the facility, but he’s so weak. He can’t strain his ears for more than a few seconds. He grits his teeth, a habit he’s picked up from the constant pain, and regrets it when he tastes blood. He recognises that this, just like his strength and the itch, is new.

He doesn’t want to admit to himself why, because that would make it real. That would mean that he’s  _ new _ , and he can’t take that. He just got used to the burns, the hydra symbol scarred into his skin, and now he has to adjust to being something different? He can’t do it.

Because he does know what’s happening to him.

Glas had explained as he brought the small, metal container towards him. He had grinned as Peter tried in vain to free himself from his restraints. And he had let out a laugh as the brown recluse settled its fangs into the soft skin of Peter’s neck.

Peter counts his breath as the world around him shakes. He lets the pain ground him.

Then, the door to his cell opens, and Peter lets himself do something that might get him killed, he hopes.

Glas steps in with a grin, and all hope is gone, replaced by that pit of despair that fills him always. “Did you think we would lose you that easily, Spider-Man?” Peter flinches at the way Glas says his title. He used to be so proud of that name, but now, after months of Glas using it to taunt him, he hates it.

-+-

“So, Pete, what do you think of this one?” Tony asks as Peter spins in his chair. “Come on, I know it’s boring, but it’s important. Just look.”

Peter groans. This is the third suit that Tony had come up with in the last hour, and he’s tired of seeing the same thing over and over again. He just got to the tower after his first day back to school, and he wants to go back to sleep. Nevertheless, he picks up his head and glances up at the hologram on Tony’s desk.

Oh.

He opens his mouth to say something, but no sound comes out.

“Like it?”

“Y-yeah, yeah, I do.”

-+-

“I can’t go back to school like this!” Peter shouts back. He grabs at his hair and stares at his reflection. It’s wrong, so wrong. All he wants to do is be normal again, to go back to school with Ned and MJ, to be a teenager again, but he can’t if he looks like  _ this _ .

“Kid, you’re overreacting,” Tony sighs, and Peter almost growls. “Hey, don’t take that tone with me. You can control it. You’ve done it before, so all you need to do is do it again. Simple, right?”

“Tony, how am I supposed to  _ retract fucking fangs _ back into my gums? How is that simple?”

“First, language. Second, well, why did they come out? What caused them to extend?”

Peter takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. “I was angry.”

“Do they come out only when you get angry?”

“No,” he blinks, an idea coming to mind. “But they do when my adrenaline spikes. I can feel them pushing at me whenever my heart speeds up, but they only actually extend when I’m worked up about something. But how do I control my adrenal glands? Oh, I don’t have to control them, I can control what leads up to it.”

Tony smiles wide. “That’s right. If you keep yourself from getting worked up in public, problem solved; no more fangs.”

-+-

“So, think of a name yet?”

Peter shakes his head, eyes fixed at his feet. He’s been trying to think of something, but nothing works. They’re either corny or too similar to another hero name.

“That’s okay,” May says softly. She pulls him into a tight hug. He melts. “You take all the time you need. Tony will take care of everything else.”

Peter nods into her neck, tears welling up in his eyes.

“Oh, baby,” she pulls back and tucks his shaggy hair out of his eyes. “It’ll be okay. Here, how about you tell me about your day? What’s Ned been up to?”

Peter’s lips quirk in the start of a smile. “It was good, if you don’t count the stares. I mean, come on, they act like they’ve never seen somebody who’s been kidnapped and tortured walk through Midtown High before.” He aims for a joking tone, but he’s not sure he reached it judging by the frown the May gives him.

“School was great,” he backtracks with a very obviously forced smile. May laughs, and he counts it as a win. “Ned missed me. You know, I thought that I exaggerated his personality while I was _ there _ and dreaming of normal, but nope, he can talk through anything.”

They’ve been avoiding talking about the facility that housed Peter during that terrible year, referring to is as “ _ that place _ ” or “ _ the cell _ .”

Peter still has nightmares on his bad days, but knowing that he has a safety net to fall back on helps a lot. Because, well, he has the Avengers on his side, and if he needs anything, they’re just a few floors away.

That’s something else that Peter had to get used to in the time he’s been back. May had moved to the Avengers Tower while Peter was  _ away _ . He was shocked at first, but then they started to fall into the schedule. Breakfast was made on the common floor by Steve after his morning run. Then, Clint would challenge him to a game of Mario Kart, and Peter would kick his ass at it, but Clint would insist that Peter was cheating.

Natasha would spar with him, and Bruce would experiment with him. Bucky would save him cookies for after his sessions with Nat. He would make Peter’s favorites, the ones with little chocolate chips in them.

Tony and May would tease him and talk him down from his nightmares, and everything was good if you forgot about the psychological issues that all of them faced.

But now, Peter goes to school. He can’t decide if that’s a good thing or not.

“Where’d you go, baby?”

Peter blinks back to reality. He plasters a smile on his face and shrugs. “No where, May. Just thinking. I think I’ll go down to my lab later and take some more samples of my webs, if that’s okay?”

She frowns. “Of course, honey. Don’t forget, Tony’s making dinner tonight, and you know how proud he is about his famous lasagna. Don’t be late, alright?”

“Okay, thanks, May. You’re the best.” He kisses her cheek and rushes out of the room.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave reviews! (I made him extra spidery and I love him)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't hate me? You'll see why  
> and obviously tw torture right?

He extends his arm to the wall. If he concentrates, he can feel the liquid moving under his skin, waiting to be released. It’s a new feeling, something he’s been experiencing a lot these days. He equates it to the tugging in his gums when he gets stressed. The fangs are the worst to deal with, the most visible.

Luckily, no one noticed the small bumps on his wrists at school earlier. MJ had raised an eyebrow at the wrist bands he wore, but she didn’t say anything. The bands also worked to cover up the scars, so that helped.

Peter closes his eyes and breathes deeply. He can do this. He can do this, right? Yeah, yeah totally.

He releases. A single strand of web shoots out of his wrist, sticking to the wall of his lab. He grins. Karen applauds from the speakers above, and Peter giggles. He pulls on the web, but it doesn’t budge.

“Karen, send me the video of the release mechanism and a close up of the muscles surrounding it.”

“Of course, Peter.”

He narrows his eyes at his wrist and tries to pull away. The string extends as he backs up. “Hey, Karen? How do spiders stop spinning their webs?” He leans back, letting the silk hold him up, and clenches his forearm. The web cuts, and Peter falls back onto the floor, hard. “Nevermind.”

“Would you like that video as well, Peter?”

“Yes, please.”

-+-

In his cell, Peter gets to escape reality. Well, that is, when the guards let him out of his chair. He gets to climb up to the ceiling and stay there in the darkness, pressed up against the cold stone as tight as he can.

After the brown recluse bite, he started to get blackouts. He would wake up on the ceiling with a sour taste in his mouth. His arms would ache, and he would have the urge to curl up in his webs, but he couldn't because he didn’t have his web shooters.

Peter whimpers into the dark cell. His gums sting, and his arms itch painfully. He can’t keep scratching them, blood already drips down to the floor. He can hear the guards laughing outside his cell, and even that small thing hurts.

The door opens, and Peter drops from the ceiling. It’s been conditioned into him at this point. Always stay on the ground when a superior is in the room.

“Good, Spider-Man,” Glas says. “Now, will you comply this time? Or do we have to do it the hard way again?” He grins, his teeth glinting in the dim light.

-+-

“So, if you switch X and Y, and solve for Y, you get the inverse. Let’s do an example before I take questions,” Mr. Del explains as he stands in front of the board.

Peter holds in a groan. He shoots a look at Ned, something that he hopes conveys the message of  _ “help me, please,” _ but Ned just shakes his head and snorts. He does groan this time. Mr. Del ignores the silent laughter coming from Ned.

A soft tapping gets Peter’s attention. Thinking it’s just Flash trying to mess with him, Peter huffs. He turns to tell him off, but Flash is focused on the board ahead of them. Peter freezes when he sees the source from outside the window.

It’s raining.

Oh god no.

His heart speeds up. All he can feel is the water in his throat, burning his lungs. His eyes sting, and he presses his hands against them to stop the tears. He’s breaths are heaving. He swallows, but there’s too much. There’s too much liquid where air should be. It’s dripping down his neck and filling his nose. He can’t breathe.

He’s back in the facility, a towel over his face and water filling his lungs. He’s drowning, and he can hear Glas’ laughter echoing off the walls.

He has to get out. Someone calls Peter’s name, but all he can focus on is the water. He recognises vaguely that he’s moving, throwing open the door and running. He can’t find the energy to care that he might have made a scene.

When he comes to, when his breathing steadies and he can’t feel the liquid clogging his throat, he has to shut his eyes against the bright lights of the bathroom overhead. He’s tired, so tired. All he wants to do is lay down, but he’s slumped up against the wall and his heart pounds hard. It’s too much. He just wants to sleep.

-+-

“Spider-Man,” Glas says, not raising his voice though his anger is clear, “I told you to hold still. And what did you do? Answer me, boy.”

“I moved,” Peter says through gritted teeth.

“And what happens when you disobey me?”

“I get the mask.”

“That’s right. So, close your mouth, boy. It’ll make this a lot easier for the both of us.”

A metal mask that covers half of his face, successfully working as a gag, is held above him, slowly lowering. Peter thrashes in his bonds, but yelps when the hot poker digs into his skin. He lets the metal envelope his face. It clamps into his skin to stay in place, making blood pool on the table below him, but he prefers that to the feeling of burning metal on his chest.

-+-

“Peter? Are you alright, honey?” May asks, concerned. Peter never calls during a school day.

“Can-can you come pick me up?” There’s a tremor in his voice, but he tries to ignore it. “I’m sorry, Aunt May, but it’s raining, and there’s so much water, and I can’t breathe, and I really need to get out of here.” He lets his sentence run on as his heart beat fades from his ears.

“Oh, Pete, I-I can’t, but I’ll call Tony. I’m covering Marissa’s shift, and I can’t get out of here right now. Tony can get you, I promise. Do you want me to call him?”

“Yes, please,” he whimpers. The sound of rain gets louder as he swallows, trying to calm himself back down.

“Okay, just hold on, baby. Just hold on.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)


	4. Chapter 4

He hears Tony coming before he can see him. His feet of his metal suit pound against the tile as he rushes through the halls, trying in vain to find Peter. The suit clicks and whirls, receding back into a briefcase.

“In here,” he calls, his voice hoarse.

The door opens, and Peter throws himself into Tony’s arms. He grips onto his shirt and doesn’t let go, holding him close. He focuses on Tony’s heartbeat, thinking that maybe it can drown out the storm raging on outside the school.

“I’ve got you,” he whispers. Peter pushes his face into Tony’s neck to feel the vibrations. “Don’t worry, Pete. I’ve got you.”

“I‘m sorry,” he slurs into Tony’s shirt, sniffing and clearing his throat to get rid of the sobs threatening to rise up from his chest.

“You have nothing to be sorry for. It’s not your fault, Peter. Hey, look at me.” He holds Peter’s chin gently and looks him in the eyes. “I want you to understand that this isn’t on you. It’s okay.”

He nods and clears his throat again. “I left my stuff in my class.” His voice is thick, and Tony pushes a tear away from his cheek.

“Okay, that’s not a problem. I’ll go get it. Do you want to stay here?”

He nods again. He lets go of Tony and looks down at his feet. It’s just rain, he thinks to himself, you shouldn’t react this way to water. But he doesn’t voice these thoughts, and Tony is leaving. Leaving. Peter reaches out as the door shuts behind him, fresh tears falling down his face.

-+-

One of the first things they do when Peter gets back to the Tower, besides deprogram the trigger words out of his subconscious, is burn the Spider-Man suit.

They fly out to the Avengers Compound and make a bonfire. Peter watches the ash rise steadily into the sky as the remains of his old life go up in flames. He sits on a blanket resting on the grass, squished between May and Tony, taking in the warmth of his family around him. Clint tackles Sam on another blanket, and Steve shouts at them, telling them to act like adults for once. Peter sees Natasha’s small smile that she tries to hide, and he knows that he’s finally safe. Bruce hands out sandwiches, telling them about a new chemical he is messing with in his lab, and Peter lets his mind settle as the warmth surrounds him.

-+-

Tony, Peter’s bag safely in his locker, leads him to the doors of the school.

Peter pauses. He doesn’t think he can survive feeling the rain hit his face, but he doesn’t want to be weak. Glas hated it when he looked weak. But Tony won’t care, will he?

“Peter,” he says softly. He pulls a small cube out of his pocket and hands it to him.

Peter takes it, a smile pulling at his lips. He and Tony had made it together, a device that acts like the Iron Man suit, but is more portable and less safe. They haven’t used it until now, but it seems like the perfect time to try it out.

He presses a button on the top. The box wraps around his hand, molding to his skin. It crawls up his arm and encases his torso, continuing in its path until it surrounds his entire body. The prototype, which is what it is, can’t fly, so he looks up at Tony through the metal suit and cocks his head in confusion.

“Hold on, kiddo,” he says with a smirk. Peter’s eyes widen in recognition. Well, this will be fun.

Tony’s suit forms around him, and he takes hold of Peter’s arms. He waits for permission, pulling the boy close to his chest and walking out the door and into the rain. Peter huddles closer as the water pelts his suit. He feels the thrusters take them up into the air. The vibrations make him sigh. Through the rain, he can smell the familiar scent of oil staining Tony’s clothes under the Iron Man suit.

“Thank you,” he mumbles. He knows that Tony can hear him through his comms. He only holds him closer at the words.

“Always, kiddo.”

The ride to the Tower is brief, and Peter is thankful for it. He jumps down from Tony’s arms and disables the suit, watching in awe as it recedes back into a small cube. He hands it back to Tony.

“Go on, Pete. Go calm yourself down,” he says with a smile.

When Bruce and Dr. Cho got the trigger words out of his head, and he was no longer a danger to himself and the people around him, the therapist at the Tower suggested that Tony and May let him do what he wants to help his mental health. If he wants to curl up on the ceiling, let him. It he needs to put on a suit and swing around the city, let him. And if he needs to be alone, let him know that he has family to rely on, but let hi be alone.

Peter smiles wide. He runs into the elevator and climbs to the ceiling, feeling the vibrations in his bones. Friday takes him to the floor he shares with May. He crawls along the ceiling and collapses onto his web. It stretches from wall to wall, and nobody can get up without him noticing. He loves it.

It’s safe and warm, and here he doesn’t have to think about the burn scars littering his torso. He doesn’t have to feel the shame that always comes when he realises he made a scene in class.

Here, the rain can’t get to him.

-+-

“Fire, Spider-Man,” Glas orders.

Peter’s hand shakes. He readjusts his grip on the gun. He’s sweating even though the room in freezing.

“I can’t, sir,” he says, voice small and cracked.

“You will, because what will happen if you don’t?”

“Hydra will kill my family, sir.”

Glas steps up to his side, steps echoing in the large room. “So, Spider-Man, what will it be? A traitor to the cause? Or your precious Aunt May?”

“A traitor to the cause, sir,” he says after a moment. He tightens his grip.

If he doesn’t shoot, he knows what will happen. Glas will bring May in and torture her in front of him. He’ll have to watch as she bleeds out. He’ll be forced to listen to her screams. So, he asks himself, what should he do to survive? Because that’s the question these days. How will he stay alive? How will May know that he’s okay?

Peter pulls the trigger.

Glas pats him on the shoulder, ignoring the way Peter draws away from the touch. “Good, Spider-Man. Very good.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking of doing a longer chapter next? I'll be free for most of tomorrow so I think it will be longer.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is a long and angsty one? Buckle up.

After his freakout, as he decides to call it, Peter is scared to go back to school. He’s been through hell, but a little panic attack in public is worse than getting kidnapped. That’s what he tries to tell May the next morning. She does not like that train of thought.

Peter marches up the stairs with his mouth set in a grim line. His steps are heavy, and music blasts in his headphones, meaning even without enhanced senses, Ned can tell Peter’s in a bad mood. It’s made clear in the way Peter barely acknowledges him and MJ. He gives them a nod and half a smile.

He unlocks his locker, still listening to the playlist Bucky put together for him. It’s mostly classical music, and it helps calm them both down on bad days. His backpack is lodged in between a math textbook and his notebook, the one he used originally to experiment with his web shooters. He moves quickly to take it out and reorganise everything that Tony stuffed into it the day before.

“Hey, Penis!” Flash shouts. Peter groans, letting his forehead hit his now closed locker. “What was that about yesterday? You scared of a little rain?”

Peter doesn’t respond. He pushes past Flash and heads toward his first class of the day.

“Aw, Puny Parker, scared of a little storm. What does Tony Stark think about that, huh? Since you  _ claim _ you know him, what does he think about you being a weak little piece of shit?”

He keeps walking,

He gets to his class before anybody else, way before the bell’s supposed to ring. The teacher shoots him a look, but he keeps his head down. His mind is racing, filled with a voice that sounds too much like Glas. He clenches his hands firmly onto the edges of his desk.

_You are weak, Spider-Man_ , the voice says. _You disappoint everybody by just existing_ , it sneers. Glas’ laughter rings sharply in his mind.  
The wood beneath his fingers creaks, close to splintering. He retracts his hands, his arms snapping to his sides and fingers digging red crescents into his palms. He needs to stop; he needs to calm down. The earphones hang from his neck, their noise too much for him in this state.

He needs something to ground him. His nails dig deeper into his palms. A warm hand sets itself gently onto his shoulder, and it takes everything in Peter not to react violently.

“Are you okay?” That’s Ned, his voice low and soothing, what Peter had longed to hear while trapped in his cell.

He nods.

-+-

“So, Spider-Man, what did you learn from your little adventure yesterday?”

Peter says nothing, shoulders set and jaw tight. He visibly flinches at the title.

“Alright then. I will tell you. You learned that, even as useless as you are, you serve a purpose. That purpose is to serve Hydra. Is that correct?” Glas steps closer to Peter, making his breath flutter.

“Yes, sir.”

-+-

When Peter steps into the gym, his Spidey Sense goes haywire. The back of his neck feels like it’s being stabbed, and he has to force himself not to retreat back into the hallway. It’s not the “intense danger” kind of feeling, more the “watch your surroundings because something bad will happen soon.” Peter breathes in and out deeply, trying to regulate his heartbeat.

“What’s wrong, Peter?” 

“I don’t know.” He scans the room, the students gathering around Coach Wilson, who, oddly, had his mouth arranged in an expression that Peter would equate to a smile. “But I think we’re about to find out.” He and Ned make their way over to the crowd.

“Class,” Coach Wilson announces, commanding silence from the group, “today is the first day of our new unit, swimming. I expect all of you to know the basics, but, just in case, we’ll go over them again when we get to the pool. Now, go get changed. You should have your swim clothes in your lockers.”

The teenagers around Peter disperse, leaving him stuck in his place. His wide eyes land on the coach.

“Um, Coach Wilson, sir?” The word sends a shiver down his spine, but he grits his teeth and deals with it.

“Oh, yeah, Parker. Well, I’ll have to arrange a schedule for you this unit, but today you can just sit on the bench. That okay?”

“Yeah- yes, sir. That is fine.” His nails threaten to break the skin of his palm.

“Good. Now, get going. You don’t have to change, but don’t think you’re getting off this easy.” He tilts his head in a way that reminds Peter of Steve.

“Of course, sir.”

Peter strides away, setting his backpack down in his gym locker. He ignores the stares again, something he’s been doing a lot of since he got back. One by one, the kids around him file out, clothed in appropriate swimwear. Peter waits until the locker room is empty, takes a deep, calming breath, and exits.

He follows the crowd, catching looks of confusion concerning his outfit. He brushes them off and tries to find Ned. He has an idea. A bad idea, but an idea regardless. Tony would yell at him for this, but he can’t seem to care.

“Ned,” he says, drawing up beside him, “I need a favor.”

“What kind of favor? And where’s your swimsuit?” Ned looks at him, eyebrows pulled together and head cocked.

“Dr. Cho said I shouldn’t swim. You know how it is, the fear of drowning again,” he tries to joke. “Anyway, I need you to do something and not ask questions.” He sets his mouth in a line, silently telling Ned that this is serious.

“Anytime someone says not to ask questions, you know it’s gonna be something bad,” Ned mutters under his breath, mostly to himself, but Peter hears him anyway. “Okay, Pete, I’ll do it. But only this once. Next time I want an explanation, okay?”

“Yes, of course.” He pauses for a moment as they draw closer to the pool room. His heart thuds heavily in his chest. “I need you to call me Spider-Man.”

“What?”

“Ned, just listen to me,” Peter whispers, his voice rushed. “Repeat after me, ‘Get yourself together, Spider-Man.” Please, Ned, just say it. I’ll owe you so much, I promise.”

Ned hesitates as they walk through the door, giving them a wide view of the translucent water. He sees the rising panic on his best friend’s face, and he makes his decision.

“Get yourself together, Spider-man,” Ned says cautiously.

Peter breathes out the breath he’s been holding. He straightens out his posture, hands behind his back and shoulders set. His face is void of emotion. He lets his mind go blank as his body moves on autopilot to the bench beside the pool. Ned trails after him, a worried look on his face.

“Peter? You okay, dude?”

“Yes, sir,” he responds, voice steady. His eyes fix onto a point on the opposite wall and stay there.

“Woah, oh no. What did I do? Peter, tell me how to fix this!” He tries to keep his whispers quiet, but he catches Flash’s attention anyway. Ned’s breathing quickens as Flash shoots him a weird look.

“Leeds,” Coach Wilson calls out, snapping the boy to attention, “get in line. I’m sure Parker will be fine over there.”

Peter listens to everything going on around him, every breath his classmates take and every word whispered, but he doesn’t fully take it in. Inside his mind, there’s a cycle of commands.  _ Sit still, Spider-Man. Don’t look me in the eyes. Don’t talk back to me, boy. If you talk, you get the mask. If you move, we get to test out your enhanced healing, so go right ahead, Spider-Man. _

He doesn’t hear the soft tapping of bare feet on the tile behind him. He doesn’t see three boys surround him, Flash at the lead. He doesn’t feel alarmed when they grab his arms and heft him to his feet. He complies. Because if he doesn’t, Glas will shoot him.

Peter’s eyes lose their cloudy haze only when he is pushed. He snaps to attention, taking in his surroundings in a split second, his Spidey Sense burning. He’s in the air, falling towards the smooth surface of the pool’s water level. He hears Flash and his friends laugh from behind, but his mind is too focused on the  _ ice cold water _ enveloping him.

And he’s back in his torture chamber. Flash’s laughter morphs into Glas’ as the water enters his lungs. He reacts on instinct, the threat of the title  _ Spider-Man _ gone from his mind.

He shoots a web above his head, hoping and praying that he’ll stay alive for a little while longer. He just got his family back, he can’t lose them again. So, he shoots his organic webs at the ceiling, and he pulls. He’s launched into the air. He doesn’t have time to process the shouting around him. He is fully focused on surviving.

His hands stick to the ceiling, and he crawls as fast as he can to safety. The corner of the room is dark, something he’s very thankful for. He’s shivering now. He’s soaked to the bone, and he can hear his teeth chattering, that horrible sound of enamel hitting enamel.

“Peter?” he can hear through the wave of sound coming at him from below. He recognises the voice, but he can’t place it. It’s familiar. It’s safe. He decides he likes whoever owns the voice.

“Peter, can you hear me?” the voice says softly. He knows that Peter can hear him with his enhanced senses, so he must be safe. The voice isn’t shouting like the others. That’s good.

He nods, or does the best he can while on the ceiling.

“Focus on my voice, Pete,” the voice- Ned, Peter realises- says. 

Ned, his best friend, the one who will always stick by him. Ned, who Peter loves with all his heart. He lets Ned guide him, leading him down to the floor, lowering himself with his organic webs. He hasn’t stopped shivering, but Ned is  _ warmth _ . He’s worth it.

Peter falls to the floor with a whimper. He hears Ned’s heartbeat approach him, and he lets himself be hugged. He’s soaked, and so is Ned, but he needs some form of contact right now, something other than cold metal digging into his skin and water being forced into his lungs.

“Ned,” he says, something between a whimper and a sob. He hugs him tighter. “Help me, please. Glas, he- he’s here. He has a gun. He’s gonna make me shoot her. If- if I don’t, he’ll kill May. I- I don’t want to shoot her. I don’t have a choice.”

Peter grabs Ned by the shoulders and stares at him, eyes wide. “I swear, I- I don’t have a choice! I didn’t want to kill her! He- he burned me and stabbed me and shot me, but I wouldn’t give in! I promise! I didn’t give anything important away, I promise,” he sobs into Ned’s chest.

“It’s okay, Peter. You’re going to be okay. I’ve got you, don’t worry, I’ve got you.”

Peter listens, he closes his eyes and listens. Slowly, Ned’s words replace Glas’ commands running in circles through his brain. He lets himself relax into the embrace, leaning fully onto Ned.

“Kiddo?”

Peter’s head bumps into Ned’s chin in his hurry to throw himself into Tony’s arms. Tony’s so  _ warm _ and  _ safe _ , everything Peter has been craving since his skin hit the water. He’s wrapped in the warmth that is his mentor. He sobs into his neck, body shaking with sobs and shivers.

“It’s okay, kid. Do you want to go back to the tower?”

He nods almost violently. “I- I’m sorry. They know now.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you hate me? Also I don't have a beta reader so there are probably many mistakes that I haven't caught. Let me know if you spot some :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's a little late, my birthday was Thursday and we're in another state.

Peter hasn’t left his room.

In the first hour of radio silence, Tony had waited, knocking every few minutes, trying, pleading for him to come out. Bruce sent him away after the tears came. May tried too, but there was the same result.

Three hours in, Bucky shows up. He sits to the left of the closed door, alert for any danger. An hour later, Natasha takes the other side of the door. They sit there together in silence. They stay still, not moving even as Bruce offers them food and water. They’re here to protect Peter. They understand a little of what he’s going through, and they need to help him. After all, they both had people to help them through their deprogramming, so they need to pay it forward.

Tony, with red, swollen eyes, sits next to Natasha as the sun goes down. She wraps an arm around his shoulders and lets him lean into her. She exhales harshly as a sound comes from Peter’s room but doesn’t react otherwise.

They have to wait for him to come to them.

After what seems like hours, the door opens silently. Peter sniffles as he steps out, eyes on the ground. His hair is messy, and his eyes tell them he has just stopped crying.

Tony stands, opening his arms. He staggers slightly as Peter launches himself into him. Natasha and Bucky stand, share a look, and leave as the two have their moment. They know he’s safe now. He’ll be okay.

“Tony,” Peter says, and it breaks Tony’s heart when he hears the evident  _ emptiness _ in his voice. “I messed up.”

“Pepper’s taking care of it, kiddo. We’ll get it handled before the story gets too big.” He runs his fingers through Peter’s unruly hair.

“No, it’s not that,” he whispers. “I don’t care about my secret identity. I’ll tell them everything, I don’t care about it anymore, not after… not after Hydra. I did something, Tony. Something bad.”

Tony frowns. “Pete, what did you do?” What could be worse than exposing his secret identity? What would cause him this much pain?

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Everything was too much, and I didn’t know what else to do. I panicked. There was nothing else I could do.” He’s mumbling to himself now, tears streaming down his face. Tony gently cups his face and tries to bring him back to the present.

“Peter, listen to me. I won’t be mad, I promise. What happened?”

“I told Ned to give me an order,” he whispers.

“ _ Oh _ ,  _ Peter _ ,” Tony says, but Peter’s already tuning him out.

The tears stop flowing. Peter clears his throat as his eyes gaze somewhere over Tony’s shoulder. He hears Glas in his head again, louder than the thoughts that keep him somewhat calm. He hears the laughter, but he also hears soft murmurs. He feels the sting of a blade cutting his skin, but he can also feel a warm hand on his face.

“Dad?”

-+-

Peter looks up at the man in front of him with his mouth set in a grim line. He doesn’t make eye contact. He can smell something familiar, but he disregards it immediately. This isn’t the time to let your memories control you, Glas says in his head. You need to sit up straight and keep quiet.

“Peter?”

He flinches. This must be a test. Nobody calls him that anymore. He shouldn’t respond, shouldn’t show that he recognises the name. So, he keeps his head level and blinks against the light streaming in from the now open door.

“He won’t respond, you know,” Glas says breathily. Peter hears the tightening of ropes and almost furrows his brow in confusion. Almost. “We’ve trained him better than that. He knows who he is now, who he’s always been. Spider-Man, come untie me.”

Peter, through his confusion at the situation, stands. He pushes past the man in front of him and goes to where he can hear Glas breathing. He kneels, still not meeting the eyes of those watching him. Before he can rip the ropes, someone seizes his arm and tries to pull him back. Peter doesn’t budge. He reaches for the material binding Glas to the floor again.

“Spider-Man,” a new voice commands. “Stop. Stand up and approach me.” Peter freezes. He doesn’t recognise the voice, but they used his title, so they must be his superior, right?

He can vaguely hear the others around him speaking, but he doesn’t pay them any attention. He sits there in front of Glas, hands hovering above the rope.

“Come here, boy,” the same voice says, leaving no room for argument. He stands and moves to the woman commanding his presence. “Look me in the eyes. Now, Spider-Man.” His hesitation disappears, and he lifts his head to see green eyes and red hair.

“Yes, Ma’am. What would you like me to do, Ma’am?” His voice is steady.

-+-

“Peter, why didn’t you tell us it was this bad? We could have helped,” Bruce says. His eyes are wide, and Peter hates himself for disappointing him.

“It isn’t that big of a deal, I swear. The only reason the command worked this time was because- well, because of the water.” He looks down to his bare feet and winces.

“Peter,” his voice softens, “that doesn’t mean that it’s not bad. Even though it only works sometimes, it’s still a problem. You hear that title everywhere these days, and now you’ll hear it even more with your identity in the open. We need to take care of this.” He crosses his arms over his chest and gently stares Peter down until he nods.

“Yeah, I guess that’s true. I just- I don’t want to go back under.”

When he was rescued, they had to put him to sleep to get the triggers out of his head. It took a week, but to Peter it felt like a year. He doesn’t want to feel that again, to feel the pulling in his chest and the nightmares that soon follow.

Bruce sets a hand on his shoulder. “It will be quick this time, don’t worry. We only have to change one thing this time. And, we’ve been working on a faster way for deprogramming. Tony got in touch with a friend who thought he could help.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not too proud of this one, it was mostly a filler. Anyways, who do you think Tony contacted?


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh, hope you like this one. I introduced a couple of people, but this is mostly a filler.

Tony lets his head fall into his hands as he sighs. He doesn’t know what to do anymore. His life is a mess, and there’s only so much he can take. He’s trying his best to be there for Peter, but he doesn’t know how. His father wasn’t the best example on how to care for people.

“Tony,” Pepper says softly, her hand pushing his hair back from his forehead, “he’ll be okay. Peter’s strong. He’ll bounce back.”

“I know, Pep. It’s just, what if he doesn’t? What if he can never be a normal kid again?”

“He will. But, that’s not what you’re worried about. Tony, we’ve known each other for a long time. You think I can’t tell when you’re deflecting?”

He looks up to her and groans. “He called me ‘dad,’ Pepper. And I totally froze.”

Pepper smiles and runs her hand through his hair. He leans into the touch. “Well, took him long enough.”

He frowns. “What?”

“Oh, Tony. For a genius, you can be an idiot sometimes. Anyway, we have an actual problem to deal with. I told the press that we will be holding a conference soon, so that should hold them over for a couple of days.”

“What about that ‘Flash’ kid?”

“The student who pushed Peter into the pool? He and his friends have been suspended for the next couple of weeks. It’s up to Peter if he wants to press charges.”

“Suspended?” Tony shouts, rising to his feet but stopped by Pepper’s soft touch. “They’ve been bullying him for years now! They revealed his identity to the world, and they’re only getting suspended?”

“Calm down, Tony. You need to talk to Peter before making any rash decisions.”

He drops his forehead onto his desk with a groan.

-+-

Peter doesn’t have friends at the facility, Glas made sure of it, but he does have sparring partners. Gwen and Harry, his neighbors, are two of those. He sees them almost every day, always under less than fortunate circumstances.

“Come on, Spidey,” Gwen calls from across the room, mouth cocked in a smirk. “Try to hit me.”

Peter almost smiles, something he hasn’t done a lot of since he was captured. He charges her and dives under her jump, tucking into a roll and vaulting to stand behind her. He darts back to dodge her rapid-fire punches.

“Hey, Mayday,” Harry sing-songs as he drops from the ceiling and onto Peter’s shoulders. “Leave the kid alone.”

“I’m a year younger than you,” Peter mutters. He grabs Harry’s leg from his shoulder and throws him against the wall.

Gwen chuckles as Harry groans.

Peter loves this about them. After all they’ve been through, they still haven’t lost their sense of humor and hope. They grit their teeth through the torture and crack a joke when their blood has dried.

“Cut the chatter, Spiders,” a guard shouts from the speakers in the ceiling. “If one of you doesn’t end up bleeding out by the end of this, Glas says you get the collars.”

They slow, breathing heavy as their minds process that thought. Peter looks up, into Gwen’s eyes, and swallows. No matter how many times they laugh through the pain, it still gets to them. Gwen nods. She cocks her head in a silent question as Harry rises.

Harry sighs. He whistles lowly, signaling them to turn to him. He blinks, grunts deep in his throat as he does so, and four more eyes blink open around his center two. Gwen puts him in a chokehold. Her skin grows hard as a firm exoskeleton forms around her arms. Harry breathes out deeply through his nose and blinks up at Peter.

Peter makes a clicking sound with his fangs.  _ I’m sorry, _ it says, their code made so many weeks ago.

Harry smiles. He nods.

Gwen jerks her arm against his throat, splitting the skin around his carotid artery.

-+-

Peter blinks back into reality. He’s not in the fighting room anymore. He’s not trading blows with Gwen or bantering with Harry. They’re gone. Mayday and Cosmic are dead, and Peter is home.

He grips the web connecting him to the ceiling tighter. Blood rushes down to his head, but he doesn’t move from his hanging position. As long as he can feel, he’s real. He can feel the sweat dripping from his forehead. He can feel the strain in his forearm as he hangs from his organic web.

“Peter,” Karen says, “Boss would like to speak with you in the common room.”

-+-

“Osborn-” Harry flinches. “-I was very unhappy with your performance yesterday. Your father paid me good money to tame you. Are you sure you want to be wasting it?”

“No, sir.”

“How about all the time and energy he put into making that spider? Do you want him to regret it?”

“No, sir.”

Glas turns to Gwen.

“And you. Stacey-” Gwen flinches. “-where would you be without Hydra?”

“Nowhere, sir.”

“What would you be?”

“Nothing, sir.”

Glas steps in front of Peter.

“Spider-Man-” Peter flinches. “-after everything Hydra has done for you, what do you have to say?”

“Thank you, sir.”

-+-

He sits on the couch, Tony on his left, and Pepper on his right. He fidgets nervously. His fingers rub the bottom of his shirt, thumb brushing back and forth against the hem.

“We need to talk about Flash,” Tony starts. “Pepper says our lawyers need your permission to press charges against him. What do you think, kid?”

Peter stops moving. His breathing slows, and his eyes close.  _ Focus _ , he tells himself.  _ It’s just a question. _ He thinks back to the day before. Flash had pushed him. He had laughed as Peter fell into the cold water. His voice had morphed into the voice from Peter’s nightmares. But Flash isn’t his nightmare. Flash is just a kid; a bully, but still a kid.

“No charges.”

“Pete, I know you want to be the hero here, but _think_. Do you want him to stay in Midtown? What happens if he does the same thing to someone else there?”

Peter looks up to meet his eyes. “That’s the thing, Tony. At least at Midtown, I can stop it. At Midtown, I’m not letting him bully anyone else. This is my decision. I want him to see me every day, for him to look me in the eye and see what he’s done to me. I don’t want him to get away with it.”

Pepper brushes back Peter’s hair, her fingers trailing down to his neck to gently reassure him. “Okay,” she says. She ignores Tony’s look of surprise. “Okay, we can do that.”

-+-

“Cosmic,” Peter whispers one night, “what do  you think they’ll do with us once they’re done training us?”

Glas let them room together as a reward for torturing a traitor to Hydra. Peter leans his head on Harry’s chest, hearing his heart thump and his lungs expand. Harry lets out a sigh. He blinks, all six eyes staring up at the ceiling above.

“I don’t know,” he whispers into the dark.

Gwen tightens her arm around Peter’s waist. “Don’t think about it too much, Spidey. Your brain’s not meant for it.”

“I just meant- what if we do comply? Will they send us out to fight against the Avengers? I don’t know if I can do that.”

“Careful, don’t let them hear you say stuff like that.” Harry reaches out for Gwen’s free hand. “Anyway, back to less stressful topics. Mayday and I want to know if you’ve picked a name yet.”

Peter pauses, lets himself sink into the embrace from the two most important people in his life right this moment.

“What about Silver? Silver Spider?”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking that I might write a one-shot of the Peter's life in the facility, including Harry and Gwen. What do you think? Also, next chapter focuses on Peter's deprogramming. What do you think about his new name? My sister drew a suit, and I might post it in a future chapter.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, two chapters in one day. I'm on a roll.

Tony sits at Peter’s side as they fly to Wakanda. He’s never been there before, but Bucky promises that it will be okay. He’ll take his word for it. Peter leans into Tony’s side as sleep pulls at him. He misses May already. They said their goodbyes, but it feels so official. Peter hates it.

He follows Tony as they make their way through Shuri’s lab. Shuri is bright and colorful in a way that reminds Peter of Gwen. She has a sarcastic wit that gives Tony a run for his money, and Peter decides he likes her a lot.

She leads him to a fancy bed. It feels like lying on a cloud, which he tells her just to hear her snort in laughter. She shows him a hologram of his brain and answers all his questions, but eventually the fun has to end.

“Tony?”

“Yeah, kiddo?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, Peter.”

And it all goes dark.

-+-

“Spider-Man,” Glas calls. Peter snaps to attention, but the buzz in the back of his mind isn’t as strong as it always is when he hears that title. It’s fading. That fear of being punished is lessening.

His shoulders straighten, but his face doesn’t go blank like it should. He knows he’s messed up by the rare fury in Glas’ eyes.

“Stallard,” he says to the guard at the door, “I think it’s time to get rid of the other projects.”

Peter steps forward. He can’t let this happen. They’re the only ones he has, the only ones he can count on. He won’t let them kill his friends. He moves to intercept Stallard, but Glas clears his throat, and Peter instinctively freezes.

“Stand down, Spider-Man, unless you want them to die slowly. Or better yet, you could torture them yourself.”

-+-

Peter has to go back to school. He knows this. It doesn’t make it any easier. But first, he has to get through this press conference. Tony adjusts Peter’s tie and tells him to calmly breathe in and out. He winks at their reflection in the mirror. Tony knows this will go well. After all, it is Pepper who arranged it.

“You got this, kiddo. All you have to do is say the speech we prepared. That’s it. Then, we’re done, and, hopefully, this all goes back to normal.”

Peter nods.

“Okay, you got the suit on under that? Good.”

He can do this.

Just breathe. In. Out. Repeat. Adjust his tie, smooth down his blazer, check his hair. Follow Tony. Breathe through the noise of the crowd behind the doors. Step out onto the stage. Smile for the cameras.

“Hello,” he says, voice confident. He’s worked for this, and now it all pays off. “My name is Peter Parker, and up until now, you knew me as Spider-Man. A year ago, Hydra abducted me. They tortured me and forced me to do things I’m not proud of. That day, the day they took me off the street just outside my school, I stopped being Spider-Man and became someone else.

“So much has happened to me in this last year, but one thing has stayed the same: my love for the people of this world. No matter what Hydra threw at me, I never stopped believing in you all. One of the thoughts that got me through all of it was that I needed to get out of there to protect my home. I couldn’t leave the innocent people of this world defenseless.

“I will always stick up for the little guy. I will always be there for the common citizen. And I, Peter Parker, will always be there for Queens. Today, I stand here before you all and introduce myself as the Silver Spider.”

Peter steps away from the podium. The lights cut, and, as darkness envelopes the crowd, Peter steps out of his formal suit, revealing his new one. It’s mainly black and red, with gray and light blue highlights on his limbs and the large spider on his chest. He slips his mask on from his formal suit pocket. It’s eyes are gray. The mask has lines where his mouth is with drawn mandibles on either side of his jaw.

[The Silver Spider's Suit](https://teardropsonrooftops.tumblr.com/post/185905812851/the-silver-spider-my-name-is-peter-parker)

As the lights come back on, Peter raises his chin. He will be the best for his city, for the world, for anybody who needs him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think next chapter will be the last. What do you think? Also, I have the photo my sister drew at https://teardropsonrooftops.tumblr.com/post/185905812851/the-silver-spider-my-name-is-peter-parker


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter!! Not very long, sorry, but more coming soon!

This time, when Peter steps into Midtown High, he expects the stares. He embraces the looks and whispers as Ned and MJ fall into step beside him. He holds his head high and locks eyes with the students parting before him like waves.

Ned sets his hand on Peter’s shoulder, and MJ bumps his arm with her own. Flash steps through the crowd with a smirk. Peter smirks back, copying the boy in front of him. His posture is relaxed, but his Spidey Sense is screaming at him to attack.

“Hey, Parker,” Flash says, “saw you on the news the other day. Guess you weren’t lying. I hope you can see that I never meant to treat you the way I did in the past. Hey, maybe you could hook me up with a SI internship?”

Peter raises his eyebrows, letting the fake smirk fall from his face. “Why would I do that, Flash?”

“Because you and I aren’t that different. We’re both better than our peers, and we can use that to our advantage.” He puffs out his chest as he glares at Ned and MJ.

“Why the change of heart?” he asks, sarcasm dripping from his voice like venom, but Flash doesn’t seem to notice.

“Are you kidding? I didn’t know you were Spider-Man before. I just thought you were Puny Parker, but now I know you’re so much more. We’re the two most popular guys in school. It’s only natural that we help each other out.”

Ned’s grip tightens on his shoulder at the title, but Peter doesn’t react. His deprogramming went better than expected.

“I don’t know if you heard, Flash, but I go by Silver Spider now, not Spider-Man. And the only reason you’re not in a public school right now eating mystery meat is because  _ Puny Parker _ didn’t get Tony Stark’s lawyers involved, so I’d shut up if I were you. Now, how about you walk away before I show you what I think about your offer?”

Peter lets his fangs slip out of his gums. They gleam in the hallway’s bright light for Flash to see. He hisses, a noise that starts deep in his throat. Flash’s eyes go wide, and he pushes himself back into the crowd formed around them.

The other students startle at the fangs, jerking back, but Peter only smiles as he watches Flash run away.

Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think? Should I continue it?

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy? Hate? Tell me what you think! Should I write more?


End file.
